Wednesday, July 07, 2010

I don't want this to come off as a critical post, because the person I'm referencing here is one of the most decent individuals around town.

Here's the basics of the exchange at one of the outside tables at The Bakery in New Paltz:

"You still homeschool?"

"Yes," he said.

"Then I have something you should check out. It's this internet site that..."

"Why would I want my kid on the internet?"

Now that either implies a very high prudential judgment (the internet is "a vast wasteland") or someone who thinks that the internet equals pornography. One does not, for instance, look behind the door unless one has stood there oneself, perhaps.

But the internet is not a vast wasteland and there's no reason to believe it equals pornography. With that out of the way, this is what I was trying to get across to this fine person about homeschooling:

The Khan Academy is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere.

This is about the real beginning of a real revolution in education on the internet. My message is do not ignore it. The Khan Academy is right here. It's free. Salman Khan isn't charging you anything. He's an M.I.T. graduate who gave up a lucrative career and is on a mission to teach the way he wished he had been taught.

This is a solution to education that many homeschooling parents in New Paltz, and parents who have thought about homeschooling, have been looking for. This is good. It is good.

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A radical conservative in enemy territory. Writers are about conflict. If they seem to get along well with the world, they're just being polite. Those who look beneath the surface of things do so at their own risk.